Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp & The Dough Rollers @ Caesars Colosseum

An interesting night to say the least.

It was only the day before that I decided to get a ticket to this show and took a cheaper option to sit on the 1st Mezzanine at the Colosseum. Previous shows on the main floor (Cher, Bette Midler Stevie Nicks, Dennis Miller) had been great seating and the 2nd Mezzanine (Jon Stewart) had been awful - so we took the middle ground.

The night started with the Dough Rollers. 2 guys playing their guitars and singing some old school blues (mostly covers of John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt etc). AMAZING!!!! What a way to kick off the night. The Dough Rollers probably ploughed through 10 songs in their quick 1/2 hour set. This is a band I will definitely look for in the future - in a small venue they'd be phenomenal.

John Mellencamp came out and from the start had the audience jumping. He played a plethora of old hits (including a rousing acapella rendition version of Cherry Bomb) sprinkled in with some of his new new stuff (meh!). But overall a great performance. He knew it wasn't his show and was limited on time, so he gave the audience what they wanted and teased them with a couple of new songs, which I'm sure he'll do when he has his own tour later in the year. I would've loved to of heard Jack & Diane, but as I said he picked a bunch of greats. And if I really wanted to hear that song I should have went with everyone 20 years ago when he toured Australia for the Lonesome Jubilee.

Then there was Bob Dylan. I wanted to like this. I even tried. But this was just terrible. He had no presence on stage, no connection with the audience (as seen by the dimmed lights between EVERY song) and the sound was atrociously mixed. Some of his harmonica solos were ear-splittingly painful. A and I left after a mere 7 songs. This is only the 3rd time I've ever done that (once with Sonic Youth in '98, and The Vines in '04).  I kept waiting for it to get better - but it wouldn't. And while I'm sure a lot of people liked it, there was also a bucket load of people leaving at the same time we were. Me thinks Mellencamp should've been the headliner, but then would we have suffered through all of Dylan. 

The Crap Facts:

This is my 299th concert.

This is my 4th concert at Caesars Colosseum.

This is my 96th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 96th concert in Nevada.

This is my 107th concert in the USA.

The Dough Roller are the 370th band I've seen.
John Mellencamp is the 371st band I've seen.
Bob Dylan is the 372nd band I've seen.